Telling Stories: Writing narrative poems

This workshop focuses on poems which have storytelling elements. We’ll look at how to construct narrative poems using formal strategies such as plot, theme, symbol, colour and conversation/dialogue. We will discuss the arcs of narrative poems and the impact of first/second person narration on the poem’s resolution. We will discuss how we create ‘characters’ in poems and how this charactersation affects the poem’s style, language and resolution. Looking at poems from Mary Ruefle, Mona Arshi, Fiona Benson and Robin Robertson, we will discuss terms such as narrative, myth, segmentation, memory and identity.

About Theresa Muñoz

Theresa Muñoz was born in Vancouver, Canada and lives in Edinburgh. She is a poet, researcher and creative producer. She has a PhD in Scottish Literature from the University of Glasgow. She has published one collection of poetry, Settle, which shortlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize. Her second collection Archivum, an exploration of what it means to engage with archival artefacts, is published by Pavilion Poetry (2025). Her work has been internationally published in Poetry Review, Arc, Southword, Canadian Literature and several other journals. She has been awarded the Muriel Spark Centenary Award, Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, Creative Scotland Award and shortlisted for The Kavya Prize and a Sky Arts Royal Society of Literature Writers Award. She has directed several literary initiatives in the UK, including the Newcastle Poetry Festival and the James Berry Poetry Prize.

Zoom

These workshops will be conducted via Zoom. We have put together this simple 'How To' document to help you download Zoom, join a meeting, and navigate around the meeting features (such as adjusting video and audio, uploading files, and sharing screens).

You will receive a confirmation email from Ticket Tailor with your ticket and the Zoom invitation, containing the meeting link and Meeting ID & Password.

Someone from The Poetry Business team will be on hand prior to each workshop to offer additional help in getting connected.

There is usually a lot of interest in our workshops: in the interest of fairness, please limit yourself to one workshop ticket in every two week period.

Bursary Spaces

There are two bursary spaces available per workshop for writers from groups that are under-represented in contemporary poetry (for instance because of ethnic background) or who are experiencing financial hardship. If you would like to apply for one of these bursary places, please contact workshops@poetrybusiness.co.uk

Refunds

If you no longer wish to attend the workshop please let us know by emailing us. We ask for 3 working days' notice before the workshop starts in order to offer a full refund, and enable us to offer the place to someone else.

Though we will do all we can to help you get set up with the technology it is the participants' responsibility to ensure that their camera, microphone and other computer settings are configured correctly. Please contact us (workshops@poetrybusiness.co.uk) if you are concerned about getting set up for Zoom.